The ill-conceived proposal to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety has been soundly defeated. In the face of rising crime, including a 40% increase in carjackings, Minneapolis voters on Tuesday…

Among the 120 or so world leaders gathered in Glasgow for the Cop26 climate crisis talks, there has been one very conspicuous absence: Xi Jinping, president of by far the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter,…

Headlines Monday captured why the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to take lives.  “Vaccine foes rally at the statehouse,” was one. “Global death toll to COVID-19 tops 5 million,” the other.  Combine the two and the…

The Nov. 2 election means lots of new people could begin serving on the Iola city council and local school board.  To see competitive races is a good sign democracy is alive and well and…

When Kansas City made a play seven years ago to host the 2016 Republican National Convention, one of the biggest hurdles, besides money, was that we didn’t have the adequate space for the big event.…

The challenge in polarized political times is to keep your eye on democratic institutions and their proper authority. That’s the reason to applaud the nine House Republicans who voted last week to hold Steve Bannon,…

Most of what we hear about Washington these days is how dysfunctional it is, and the reputation is well earned. We are in an era when political power and absolutist ideology have become far more…

In 2018, Allen County paid $1 million for a rock crusher. For a good chunk of its life, the crusher has been in the shop for repairs of one sort or another. This summer, one…

The prospects for COP26, the United Nations climate conference that opens Sunday in Glasgow, are bleak. Yet the mounting consensus points to the international summit as being the most crucial global gathering at least since…

The federal bankruptcy system is morally bankrupt. The system has been abused by corporations and rich people to the point that it no longer upholds the mission it was designed for: providing a limited shelter…